Active clinical trials for "Immunologic Deficiency Syndromes"

Background/Objectives: The research discusses the importance of mountain foods/products and services in the context of healthier nutrition and behavior with the application to agribusiness. The purpose of the research is to highlight the necessity of human behavior in consuming mountain products as natural probiotics. Subjects/methods: As evidence, the research analyses mountain food and the associated entrepreneurship for Austria and other Central and Eastern European countries (foods/products and services), especially from the mountain area. The authors realized experimental research regarding representative mountain food from Central and Eastern European areas and used the Eurostat database. Data has been taken from Eurostat and processed in Excel and SPSS, using similar models of analysis from published research. Experimental analysis has been realized by the authors and collected from different recognized sources.

This research is being done to construct a survey questionnaire, a quality of life tool, to determine the health, well-being, ability to perform daily activities, and physical, social and emotional functioning in participants with primary immunodeficiency disorders (PIDD). This quality of life (QOL) tool will help physicians understand the effects of PIDD on a person's health. These quality of life surveys are important tools for physicians to measure outcomes for satisfaction and effects of treatment.

Retention of patients in HIV care following diagnosis and enrollment is critical to the long-term success of HIV care and treatment scale-up. The goal of this study is to better understand the factors that influence retention and engagement in HIV care among adult patients who are enrolled in HIV care and are not yet eligible for antiretroviral therapy (ART). The study will be conducted at four HIV care and treatment clinics (CTCs) in Kagera Region, Tanzania. This is a mixed-methods study with both qualitative (interviews) and quantitative (surveys) data collection. Our findings will be important towards designing programs that help patients remain in HIV care.

The investigators propose a prospective single arm pilot cohort study of 100 youth (ages 15-25) to evaluate the feasibility of this project. A convenience sample of subjects will be enrolled on a voluntary basis from those who come to the day care center located in Nyanza, a district of the Southern province, in Rwanda.

Three different white adipose tissue-related disorders, whether due to its excess (obesity), absence (lipoatrophies) or aberrant distribution (lipodystrophies), are paradoxically able to induce metabolic insulin resistance syndrome. The respective roles played by quantitative and qualitative anomalies of adipose tissue, gluco- and lipo-toxicity, liver and muscle insulin resistance, low-grade fat inflammation and immune alterations are not yet perfectly understood. In contrast to most organ transplantations that are often complicated by post-transplantation diabetes, diabetes cell therapy is associated with body weight loss, which is possibly related to the antiadipogenic effects of mTOR inhibitors (rapamycin or sirolimus). The aim of this study is thus to determine and monitor blood interleukin-7 and other cytokine levels; metabolic parameters; and fat mass distribution with DEXA and RMN, before and after a immunosuppressive regimen in patients receiving different kinds of transplantation (liver, kidney or islets) with normal weight and no type 2 diabetes before transplantation. In these patients, blood samples will be taken before and after transplantation, as will adipose tissue during the transplantation surgery, in order to constitute a plasma serum, gene and tissue bank for improving our knowledge of disorders linking fat mass, insulin resistance and immunity, especially post-transplantation diabetes.

This protocol is designed to ascertain whether the bacteriophage 0X174 neoantigen is safe and effective as an antigen used in the evaluation of primary and secondary immune responses. Bacteriophage 0X174 is given intravenously 2 billion PFU/Kg of body weight; small blood specimens of 3-5 ml (about 1 teaspoon) are collected after 15 minutes, 7 days, 14 days, and 28 days. Blood is collected at intervals following the administration of the bacteriophage and the number of phage/ml is determined by the agar overlay method using suspension of E. coli C and serially diluted patient's serum. Phage-specific IgG and IgM are measured by neutralization assay. Capacity of switch from IgM to IgG is determined.

To conduct a multicenter epidemiologic study of the human retroviruses HIV-1, HIV-2, HTLV-I, and HTLV-II in volunteer blood donors from areas of the United States that were reportedly at high and medium or low risk for HIV. Also, to determine the prevalence of retrovirus seropositivity in first time blood donors; and the rate of retrovirus seroconversion in repeat blood donors as a measure of incidence of infection; to ascertain risk factors for antibody-positive donors; to characterize the blood donor population by geographic location, age, sex, race/ethnicity, and donation history to permit analysis on prevalence, incidence, and risk factors; to identify recipients of retrovirus-positive blood units and conduct clinical and laboratory follow-up of these recipients; and to establish a blood specimen repository for long-term storage of specimens from study donors and recipients for future testing.

This study will examine whether HIV-infected patients are more likely to develop resistance to antiretroviral therapy if their blood is not monitored for the number of viruses (viral load) in the body. A virus that changes (mutates) over time may become resistant to certain types of medicine. This resistance may affect future treatment options. This study will compare the amount of virus in the blood of HIV-infected patients who have been monitored for viral load with the amount of virus in the blood of patients who have not been monitored for viral load. For patients who have detectable virus, the type of resistance (mutations) of the virus will be determined by comparing the components of the virus with that of a virus that is known not to be resistant. HIV-infected patients 18 years of age or older who are being treated at the Infectious Diseases Institute at Mulago Hospital at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, may be eligible for this study. Participants are interviewed about the treatments they have received for HIV and how they usually take their anti-HIV drugs. They also have a blood sample drawn for research tests.

In many areas of the world most severely affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, insect and water-borne diseases such as malaria and diarrheal disease are common causes of illness and death. In addition, diarrhea and malaria are more common and more severe among adults and children infected with HIV. These infections may modulate the immune system, affect the replication of the HIV virus and could result in more rapid HIV disease progression in co-infected individuals. Access to practical, inexpensive and easy to use interventions to prevent these diseases may be effective in delaying HIV progression. Current Kenya government and World Health Organization guidelines recommend the use of cotrimoxazole (trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole [TMP/SMX]) to prevent co-infections, including malaria. Despite the provision of TMP/SMX to HIV-infected adults, infections with malaria and pathogens causing diarrhea remain common causes of morbidity and mortality in many resource-limited settings. In addition, TMP/SMX may not prevent all infections with malaria or other pathogens due to alternative mechanisms of action, antimicrobial resistance and non-compliance due to adverse events or other reasons. We propose a study to evaluate the impact of providing insecticide treated bednets and a simple water filtration device on markers of HIV disease progression among a cohort of ART naïve, HIV infected adults prescribed TMP/SMX in Kenya. In addition, we propose to evaluate the effect of these interventions on malaria and diarrheal disease incidence and on compliance with TMP/SMX.

The proposed study has two specific aims 1) to gather data about treatment adherence levels among adolescents (11-21 years) with HIV and 2) to obtain information about the adolescents and mothers' health beliefs and examine their relationship to the adolescents' adherence levels. This pilot study is designed to gather preliminary data about the feasibility of using several new measures with this population. To achieve these aims, a convenience sample of approximately 45 adolescents with HIV will re recruited. The adolescents and their mothers will complete a brief questionnaire about their health beliefs. A 24-hour recall interview format will be used to assess the adolescents' treatment adherence to prescribed oral medication. The adolescent will complete recall interviews on three random days over a two week period. Data analysis will be primarily descriptive, but will be used to generate more specific hypotheses for future research studies. The long-term goal of this research is to better identify adolescents with HIV at risk for non-adherence and design empirically derived interventions to improve their adherence levels. The health beliefs measure may also be useful in identifying irrational beliefs about the illness or treatment that can then be targeted for cognitive restructing in psychological interventions.