Active clinical trials for "Heart Diseases"

To investigate how inflammation, hemostasis, and stress may contribute to neighborhood and individual-level socioeconomic differences in cardiovascular risk.

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether seniors living in neighborhoods that are conducive to walking are more physically active than those living in neighborhoods that are less conducive to walking.

To explore the role of insulin growth factor in cardiovascular disease in older men and women.

To better understand the determinants of nutrient intake in black and white adolescent girls and to examine the effects of nutrient intake and eating behaviors on obesity, a significant risk factor for CVD.

To investigate the role of genetics in cardiorespiratory fitness, obesity, and risk of hypertension.

To investigate the predictive value of using measures of cholesterol homeostasis to identify individuals at high risk of developing cardiovascular disease relative to established risk factors.

The purpose of this study is to compare two methods of diagnosing coronary artery disease (CAD), thallium single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and ultrafast computed tomography (CT).

Heart attacks are usually caused by a blood clot blocking an artery supplying blood to the heart. Current treatments are designed at relieving this blockage as quickly as possible to minimise damage to the heart muscle. However in restoring the supply of blood local damage known as "ischaemia-reperfusion injury" may occur. The aim of this study is to assess how clot forming and clot dissolving pathways are affected during this process, and examine the role of a natural inflammatory hormone, bradykinin. This will help us to understand the mechanism by which ischaemia-reperfusion injury may occur and to devise new treatments for heart attacks.

Background: Genetic research has implications for drug development and marketing. Race-based medicine may be able to provide specific treatment for populations with increased disease-specific morbidity and mortality. However, contemporary genetic research refutes the idea that races are genetically distinct populations, even as drugs designed for use in specific races are being promoted. Studies have shown high levels of public suspicion for race-based and personalized genetic medicine. Concerns related to not only the potential performance of race-based drugs, but also the motives of those offering these drugs. Many participants have suggested conspiracy theories in which race-based medicine was disguising an attempt to provide inferior medications or deliberately harm certain populations. Concerns about personalized medicine often have to do with privacy and other personal concerns. Public suspicions of race-based medicine, and to a lesser extent, personalized genetic medicine, make it important to examine and understand the theoretical and empirical literature on trust and health care. Objective: - To describe the perspective of participants evaluating the medicine offer. Eligibility: Males and females ages 18 and older who are visiting the John Hopkins clinics (primarily the adult care clinics). Participants must be able to take a literacy screen and respond to a short survey. Design: Participants will be asked to take a researcher-administrated literacy screen, read one of three randomly assigned vignettes, and fill out a survey. The first page of the survey will provide information about the study. Participants will respond to initial questions about demographics, experiences with discrimination, and trust in the medical profession and institutions. Each participant will receive a random vignette in which he/she will imagine him/herself being diagnosed with a common, chronic condition and offered a conventional drug, a race-based drug, or a genetically personalized drug. After being presented with the vignette, participants will be asked to respond to a survey that asks about their levels of trust in the vignette doctor, perceived respect given to the patient by the vignette physician, emotional response to the vignette, their belief in the effectiveness and safety of the drug prescribed in the vignette, information sufficiency, and their hypothetical behavioral intention to take the drug. Participants will be debriefed after completing the survey, and will be offered a small amount of compensation for participating.

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the most common cause of death in the United States. A common term for CHD is "blocked arteries." People with CHD or "blocked arteries" often have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or diabetes. They are also more likely to suffer a heart attack. Many heart attacks could be prevented by taking medicines that control blood pressure, cholesterol, and diabetes. However, only 50%-60% of patients take their medicines as directed. Patients who don't take their medicines regularly are considered noncompliant. One of the risk factors for noncompliance is low health literacy. Health literacy is the ability to obtain, understand, and act on basic health information. Patients with low health literacy may not understand their illnesses as well, or how to take their medicines properly. The purposes of this project are to learn more about the relationship between low health literacy and medication compliance, and to test 2 different strategies designed to help patients take their medicines more regularly. Patients with CHD were recruited when they arrived for a regular doctor's appointment. We measured their health literacy skills, asked questions about how they take their medications, and checked their blood pressure and last cholesterol and diabetes measurements. We then assigned patients to 1 of 4 intervention groups (intervention ongoing). The first group is receiving usual care, which includes regular medication instructions printed on the bottle and no reminders to refill medicines. The second group gets monthly postcards reminding them to refill their prescriptions. The third group gets a new medication schedule that shows them, with pictures and figures, how they are supposed to take their medicines each day. The fourth group receives both the postcards and the new medication schedule. We are following patients for 1 year to see which intervention has the greatest impact on their medication compliance, blood pressure, cholesterol, and diabetes measurements. We will also examine whether patients' health literacy affects the success of the interventions.