Active clinical trials for "Diarrhea"

The aim of the inSCALE project is to test the effect of innovative approaches to increase coverage of integrated community case management, which provides community based-care for diarrhoea, pneumonia and malaria, resulting in more children receiving timely and appropriate care for these three most common childhood illnesses

Bile acid malabsorption (BAM), a common cause of diarrhoea, affects 1 million people in the UK, but is often misdiagnosed as irritable bowel syndrome or goes unrecognised in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. The SeHCAT (seleno-tauro-homocholic acid) test is currently the only diagnostic test for BAM, but it is not widely available and it is also time consuming, expensive and involves exposure to radioactivity. Some clinicians give a course of blind or empirical treatment instead. The National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) recognised these issues and highlighted the need for cheaper and safer tests to identify BAM. This study will assess the accuracy of a simple, convenient and inexpensive laboratory test for the rapid diagnosis of BAM which measures bile acids in stool. This test has the potential to have a broad impact on clinical practice and patient care by enabling doctors to identify and treat patients with BAM promptly. Results from the second phase of the study will allow the assessment of the benefits of monitoring the stool test to determine whether the bile acid changes can predict the response to treatment and dosage needed for each patient.

The purpose of this study is to assess how free distribution and preemptive home delivery of oral rehydration salts (ORS) by community health workers affects ORS use. The investigators will measure the impact of the combination of the two interventions (free distribution + pre-emptive home delivery) as well as the impact of each intervention separately (free distribution without home delivery and pre-emptive home delivery without free distribution).

The overall goal of this study is to investigate whether the modulatory effects of probiotics, which are used as food supplements (Lactobacillus GG marketed as Culturelle or yoghurt) in the gastrointestinal tract promote restoration of intestinal function and enhance the specific immune response in children with cryptosporidial or rotaviral infections in South India. Rotavirus and Cryptosporidium spp. are the most important viral and parasitic causes of gastroenteritis in children in south India. Both infections can lead to severe dehydrating gastroenteritis in young children and have no specific treatment. Repeated episodes of diarrhea can result in long term deleterious effects on nutritional status, possibly due to intestinal damage. Most episodes of infectious gastroenteritis resolve without specific therapy, the mainstay of treatment being rehydration. However, oral rehydration remains under-utilized, in part due to the lack of effect on frequency of bowel movements and duration of illness. Due to the interest in simple, safe and effective measures to ameliorate the long-term effects of diarrheal illness, there is a growing appreciation for the potential of certain microorganisms to offer direct benefits to the health of a host. Probiotics are known to beneficially modulate several host functions, the most important of which are immune responses and intestinal barrier integrity. The investigators propose to build on the investigators previous collaborative efforts to conduct pilot studies to provide a mechanistic understanding of the effect of probiotic supplementation in children with rotaviral and cryptosporidial diarrhea. Based on the established efficacy of LGG for the treatment of a variety of diarrheal diseases and the documented modulation of immune responses and strengthening of intestinal epithelial barrier function by probiotics, the investigators propose to conduct a Phase I/II double-blind randomized placebo controlled clinical trial to assess the preliminary efficacy and safety of LGG vs. placebo in the resolution of symptoms and restoration of intestinal function in children with either rotaviral or cryptosporidial diarrhea and no other detected enteric infection. Promising results in this Phase I/II study will provide preliminary data to power a future randomized trial on these critical outcomes following rotaviral or cryptosporidial infection.

This is a multicenter, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled field trial to evaluate the epidemiology of natural infection with ETEC occurring after transcutaneous immunization in a field setting.

Dietary fiber, a non-digestible carbohydrate, used in decades for the beneficial effect on health with physiological importance because such compounds have low energy values. These indigestible carbohydrates generally reach the large intestine undigested and unabsorbed, they are often used in many functional and/or low-calorie food and beverages. Researchers have stated that dietary fiber especially digestive-resistant maltodextrin has innumerable beneficial effects on human health, such as improving intestinal regularity by increasing fecal bulk, stimulating peristalsis and shortening gastrointestinal transit time. Resistant maltodextrin (Fibersol-2) is a low viscosity, water-soluble, indigestible dextrin produced by the treatment of corn starch with acid, enzymes, and heat. Dietary fiber, a non-digestible carbohydrate, has been used in decades for the beneficial effect of health with physiological importance. In developing countries most of the diarrhea episodes occur during the first two years of life and till date antibiotics have been found to have no role in over seventy five percent of young childhood diarrhea. Toddler's diarrhea which affects children aged 6 to 60 months is known as chronic nonspecific diarrhea of childhood. The stool is frequently watery or loose and may have food particles in it. Despite the diarrhea, the child continues to grow and gain weight, remains active and has a normal appetite. The beneficial effects of resistant maltodextrin are well known in developed countries; however, data are lacking in developing countries. It has become imperative to know its safety, tolerability and acceptability in small children with or without diarrhea in developing countries such as in Bangladesh.

This randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind clinical trial aims to evaluate the efficacy and safety of probiotics as food supplements in preventing antibiotic-associated diarrhea. The study will involve 82 patients who will be randomly assigned to one of two groups: an experimental group receiving a probiotic containing Lactobacillus acidophilus LA85, and a placebo group. The primary outcomes measured include the number of days until the onset of diarrhea, the duration of diarrhea (if it occurs), gastrointestinal quality of life evaluation using the GIQLI questionnaire, and overall patient satisfaction.

School-aged children in low and middle-income countries (LMIC) face significant challenges to their health and development which contribute to poor academic achievement. Multi-component comprehensive school health programs guided by the World Health Organization's (WHO) Health Promoting Schools (HPS) framework have been shown to positively impact health outcomes. Such programs are implemented widely throughout the world. However, in LMIC the scope and reach of school health programs are limited by human resource constraints. A key challenge to effective implementation has been the identification of effective delivery agents. A potential alternative approach is to leverage existing community members as lay fieldworkers for the delivery of school health promotion. Our hypothesis is that lay-fieldworkers can effectively implement comprehensive school health programs in resource-constrained primary schools. This hypothesis will be tested by retrospectively analyzing data obtained during a 5-year pilot of a school health program (CHHIP) in rural primary schools of the Darjeeling Himalayas of India.

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of daily supplementation of L. plantarum APsulloc 331261(GTB1TM) on improvement of IBS symptoms.

The main purpose of this study is to assess the concentration of elemental impurities in blood and urine after chronic administration of Smecta® in subjects with chronic functional diarrhoea. For exploratory purposes, the potential effects of diosmectite on bowel microbiote composition will be investigated.