Active clinical trials for "Immunologic Deficiency Syndromes"

The availability of HIV care and treatment programs is increasing in sub-Saharan Africa. However more than half the patients who need HIV medicines are still not receiving this antiretroviral therapy (ART), and this can lead to early death from AIDS. One of the problems in this region is that patients start ART late, after the HIV disease is very advanced. This results in high death rates soon after ART initiation. The way clinic-level factors, such as the way services and referrals are organized, how referrals are regarded, counseling messages and record-keeping, contribute to late ART initiation is unclear. As the second phase of a 3-phase NIH-sponsored project, this study will identify clinic-level enablers and barriers to timely enrollment into HIV care and ART initiation. A cross-sectional qualitative study will be conducted at 4 selected HIV care and treatment clinics and the health facilities in which they are located in Ethiopia. Data will be collected using 4 methods: Data abstraction Key informant interviews with clinic personnel Observation of post-test counseling sessions in the VCT clinic Observation of provider-patient interactions in the care and treatment clinic Identifying modifiable health facility-level predictors of late ART initiation will facilitate implementation of interventions, programs and policies that will increase the number of patients who enroll in HIV care and initiate ART early. Additionally, results will inform the design of the third phase of the NIH-project referenced above.

The purpose of this study is to gather information needed to develop a large prevention trial to decrease the risk for HIV transmission among HIV-discordant couples (where one person is HIV-positive and the other is HIVnegative) in Lesotho. The protocol team would like to learn more about men, women and couples in Lesotho and what they think about various topics related to HIV, including HIV testing and counseling, male circumcision and HIV treatment. There will be three parts to the study including 1) a survey 2) focus group discussions; and 3) in-depth interviews. Two hundred pregnant or recently postpartum women will be recruited to participate in the survey. Women who answer the questionnaire will also be asked to participate in the focus groups. A total of 6-8 groups consisting of 6-12 women each will be conducted. Thirty men from the community will be recruited to participate in an in-depth individual interview.

The purpose of this study is to study the kinetics (study of the rate of change) of immune recovery quality and function in stored plasma blood samples of treatment-naive (not previously treated with antiretroviral drugs) patients with advanced human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection starting a Darunavir/Ritonavir- or Efavirenz-based highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) regimen.

To determine the seroprevalence of Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV/HHV8) in blood donors from Texas. Also to examine the donors' demographic characteristics and to characterize the KSHV using polymerase chain reaction.

The goal of the protocol is to define the normal humoral and cellular immune responses to antigens in volunteers and to define abnormalities of these immune responses in patients with immunodeficiency diseases or cancer. In vitro assays and in vivo skin tests and immunization with antigens will be utilized.

This is a multicentre prospective audit to determine the incidence of immunodeficiency in children with IPD. Aims and/or research question of the project To determine the incidence of primary immunodeficiency in children >2 years who present with IPD To determine the types of immunodeficiency associated with IPD in children

This study will collect information on health status and risk behaviors, as well as basic demographic and biomedical information for a group of HIV positive adolescents receiving care at sites newly participating in ATN III.

HIV infection is associated with an immune activation and an inflammatory response - despite an active antiretroviral therapy - which may lead notably but not exclusively to cardiovascular diseases. It has been shown that the use of Protease Inhibitors (PI) instead of Non Nucleosidic Inhibitors (NNRTI) may increase the risk of myocardial infarction. Platelets may play a role in the occurrence of the inflammatory state: they contain big amounts of chemokines, growth factors, and adhesion proteins. Today, the contribution of platelets to the inflammatory state associated with HIV infection has been little studied. Thus, it has been shown that platelets in HIV patients are able to release interleukin (IL)-18. The group has shown with others that the platelet function could be altered during HIV infection. Inversely, it doesn't know how antiretroviral therapy interacts with platelets. The aim of the study is to evaluate, according to the antiretroviral therapy, the impact on the platelets activation markers.

This study is designed to see how HIV infected patients perform when taking a single fixed dose HIV medication compared to a regimen with multiple tablets. The study is also going to be looking at the differences in complications between the two groups.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate diagnostic immunization protocol of rabies vaccine for diagnosis the patients with primary immunodeficiency disorders and study humoral and cellular immune response to rabies vaccine in patients with primary immunodeficiency.