Active clinical trials for "Infections"

Methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) infections are a common cause of morbidity and mortality in nursing home residents. MRSA is predominantly spread from patient-to-patient by health care workers. The use of gowns, gloves and hand washing prevents this spread; however, their use detracts from a patient-centered, home-like environment which is an important priority for nursing homes. The goal of this project is to determine when it is most important for health care workers to wear gowns and to wash their hands when caring for MRSA colonized Veterans in community living centers.

This will be an uncontrolled, open-labelled pilot study exploring whether minocycline has a measurable and selective effect on HIV infection of the central nervous system.

The purpose of the study is to determine the best ways to prevent infections after heart surgery. Participation in the study will last at most 3 months after heart surgery. The study will only collect information about the care patients receive during the planned surgery. No new testing or procedures will be done. Patients will receive only the tests or procedures the doctor already has planned. This kind of study is an observational study, because all that is planned to do is observe the care patients receive and how well they do during treatment. The information collected should help to improve the quality of surgical care in the future.

Hepatitis E is a worldwide disease. It is the leading or second leading cause of acute hepatitis in adults in developing countries from sub-Saharan Africa or Southeast Asia, where it is hyperendemic and principally water-borne. In industrialised western countries, hepatitis E was until recently considered as imported from hyperendemic geographical areas, but is currently an emerging autochthonous infectious disease. A growing body of data from Europe, America, Australia, and Asia strongly indicate that pigs represent a major Hepatitis E Virus (HEV) reservoir and might be a source of zoonotic transmission to humans through direct or indirect exposure. Hepatitis E typically causes self-limited acute infection. However, the overall death rate is 1-4%, and it can reach 20% in pregnant women and might be still higher in patients with underlying chronic liver disease. To date, no preventive or curative treatment of hepatitis E is available.

The fraction of exhaled nitric oxide (feNO) in expired air is a reliable measure of airway inflammation. Some research experiments have demonstrated stimulation of nitric oxide production in respiratory epithelial cells infected with RSV. The principal aims are to determine if the fraction of exhaled nitric oxide (feNO) is elevated in hospitalized pediatric patients with viral lower respiratory illness and to determine if there is a difference in feNO level between RSV and non-RSV infection. NO may play a role in the association between RSV, airway reactivity, and airway inflammation. This is a prospective, pilot study that will noninvasively measure feNO in children 0-4 years of age admitted to Winthrop University Hospital, as well as controls (children in the same age range without respiratory conditions and who are well enough to perform the test). Hospitalized children will be tested for RSV (enzyme immunoassay (EIA) & DFA) and via direct fluorescent antigen technique (DFA) for influenza A & B, parainfluenza, human metapneumovirus and adenovirus. Method of feNO measurement will utilize the offline options for preschool children & infants appropriate for age as described in the 2005 Joint Statement of the American Thoracic Society & the European Respiratory Society when discussing tidal breathing techniques with uncontrolled flow rate Offline exhaled air can be collected via a mouthpiece or a face mask connected to a non-re-breathing valve that allows inspiration of NO-free air from an NO-inert reservoir to avoid contamination by ambient NO. Exhaled breath samples are collected into an NO-inert bag fitted with the expiratory port once a stable breathing pattern is present. The results of all 3 groups will be compared: control, RSV positive and RSV negative samples.

To evaluate the efficacy and safety of long-term treatment with clarithromycin in patients with Non-tuberculous Mycobacterial Pulmonary Infections.

In this two-year study, we will target two high risk groups, including MSM of HIV-infected and those of non-HIV-infected. We will avail the serodiagnosis to detect the potential amebic carriers in both groups; and use microscopy to detect protozoas other than amebiasis. Meanwhile we will also survey the patients' status of sexual transmitted diseases (STD). For the amebic carriers, we will apply specific antigen and molecular biologic method to follow up the duration of the persistence of fecal amebas. We try to clarify the dynamic change of amebic carriage.

The MTN-003 HIV prevention study include the use of microbicides, substances that kill microbes, and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) and emtricitabine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (FTC/TDF) - oral, FDA-approved, anti-HIV drugs. The purpose of this study is to determine if taking daily TDF and FTC/TDF as a part of the study MTN-003 has an effect on bone mineral density (BMD).

Bloodstream infections (BSI) are a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Bloodstream infections are also costly and result in prolonged hospital stays. The duration of therapy necessary to clear blood stream infections is unknown and no study has systematically addressed this issue. However, the use of antimicrobials is not without consequence. These include financial cost, side-effects, promotion of superinfection (especially Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea), and the promotion of microbial resistance. This study hypothesizes that a procalcitonin (host biomarker) and endotoxin (microorganism biomarker) guided treatment plan could significantly decrease unnecessary exposure to antibiotics in patients with bloodstream infections.

The purpose of this study is to examine the postprandial (anytime after a meal) effect of different dietary fats on endothelial function in HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected men.