Active clinical trials for "Congenital Abnormalities"

People with mild chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) can have significant physiological abnormalities and breathing inefficiency which become more pronounced during the stress of exercise, leading to intolerable breathing discomfort (dyspnea). To better understand the mechanisms of respiratory symptoms and exercise limitation in mild COPD, we will examine detailed lung function tests and other important measurements during rest and exercise in people with mild COPD compared with healthy non-smokers. This will be the first study to uncover the fundamental causes of breathing inefficiency and the related shortness of breath during physical exertion in patients with mild COPD. We hope to demonstrate that one simple measurement during exercise [the relation (ratio) between the total amount of air breathed (ventilation) and the amount of carbon dioxide breathed out] gives meaningful information about the extent of damage to the small airways and blood vessels in mild COPD and the overall gas exchanging function of the lungs, without the need for an arterial blood sample. This is a case-controlled observational study not involving an intervention. Participants will complete 2 visits approximately 1 week apart, each conducted at the same time of day. Visit 1 will consiste of screening for iligibility, symptom and activity assessments, pulmonary function tests and an incremental cycle cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) for familiarization purposes. Visit 2 will include spirometry followed by an incremental cycle CPET with detailed measures of ventilatory, gas exchange, sensory-perceptual and arterial blood gas responses.

The purpose of this study is to identify the issues that have greatest impact on QOL for patients with Charcot Marie Tooth (CMT) Disease. Patients who have -registered in the Inherited Neuropathies Consortium Contact Registry will be invited to participate.

Infants requiring surgery in the neonatal period for complex congenital heart diseases are at risk for developmental problems. For infants with congenital heart diseases with admixture physiology and single ventricles, optimal circulation is associated with signs of adequate systemic perfusion and a systemic arterial oxygen saturation typically between 75% to 90%. Infants are often unable to withstand standardized developmental testing during early infancy due to medical fragility and sternal precautions after surgery. Evaluation of the quality of spontaneous movements and movement variability is a good alternative. The quality of general movements in early infancy is a valid predictor of neurological disorders in high risk infant groups and is assessed with short periods of video-recorded observations. This methodology has yet to be studied in infants with complex congenital heart disease that require surgery as neonates. For older infants, the Infant Motor Profile (IMP) is a promising tool to document developmental outcome.

This project will evaluate fluid balance and oedema formation in children with the same congenital heart disease (Atrial Septal Defect) who will either go through heart surgery with the use of Cardio Pulmonary Bypass and hypothermia or through interventional catheterization. The investigators will measure interstitial colloid osmotic pressure, distribution of proteins and cytokines. The study hypothesis is that "Oedema developed during heart surgery is caused by reduced colloid osmotic pressure gradient through the capillary membrane".

The purpose of this study is to examine the differences in perceived health, psychosocial functioning, behavioral outcomes and quality of life of adults with congenital heart disease who are living in different areas of the world, and how these differences can be understood (e.g., differences in sense of coherence or illness perceptions).

The present study intends to clarify whether there is positional mandibular stability in patients to be submitted to orthognathic surgery. In case of any instability exists, it is needed to understand if this could be related to a particular type of dentofacial deformity or could have any short-term or long-term influence on outcomes of the orthognathic surgery.

The purpose of this study is to define clinical and demographic features within the population suffering from cervical deformity to assist health professionals to make important treatment decisions.

PHACE syndrome(OMIM database number 606519) is the association of a vascular birthmark (hemangioma) on the face along with one or more of the following conditions: congenital heart defects, congenital anomalies of the cerebral arteries,brain, eyes, or sternum. A research study is currently being conducted at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) to investigate if there is an inherited cause of PHACE syndrome. We are hoping that this study will lead to a better understanding of how and why children develop PHACE syndrome.

Feeding difficulties and airway related consequences contribute significantly to the infant mortality and morbidity. Some of these problems may be dependent on neural control and muscular function. Prematurity, congenital anomalies and perinatal depression represent three important conditions in infants, that may have feeding and airway difficulties.Development of motility of the foregut and the adaptation during normal and disease in developing infants is unclear.

Middle and inner ear malformations on two boys with velocardiofacial syndrome are discussed.Special attention should be given to the presence of hearing loss due to middle and inner ear malformations, in addition to frequent conductive hearing loss regarding mastoid and middle ear inflammatory processes.