Active clinical trials for "Respiratory Tract Infections"

The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of commercially available kefir on preventing antibiotic-associated diarrhea compared to placebo in children ages 1-5.

A phase III multicenter randomized double blind clinical trial will be conducted. After obtaining written consent the infant will be randomized, during the first two weeks of life, to a study group to receive either 400 IU or 1,000 IU / day of vitamin D to the year of age. Baseline and all follow up visits (2, 6, and 12 months of life) will include anthropometric measurements and a questionnaire about health issues. A blood sample will be obtained at baseline for analysis of 25OH vitamin D, and at 6 and 12 months for analysis of 25 OH vitamin D, and calcium. Healthy term born infants of appropriate size for gestational age will be included. We will need to include 359 children in each group. The primary objective of the study is to decrease the proportion of infants with acute bronchitis during the first year of life by supplementation of 1,000 IU/day vitamin D. Secondary otcomes are: To check that the administration of 1,000 IU/day vitamin D decreases the proportion of infants with upper respiratory tract infections, the proportion of children under one year of age hospitalized for acute bronchiolitis, and the demand on the healthcare system due to respiratory infections and absences from work for parents and achieves a higher proportion of children with adequate blood levels 25 OH vitamin D.

Since October 2009, H1N1 influenza vaccine has developed and approved of immunization in population in China. However, there was little epidemiological evidence of safety when vaccinated in healthy pregnant women. The main objective of this study is to assess the safety of split-virion inactivated H1N1 vaccine without adjuvant when administered in healthy pregnant women. It is a stratified and controlled clinical trial in healthy pregnant women. And participants were included up to 226 healthy pregnant women aged 18 -35 years old who have no history of novel influenza H1N1 infection or novel influenza H1N1 vaccination. The pregnancy week ranged from 5 weeks to 32 weeks. Subjects were divided into 2 groups: vaccinated group（122） and unvaccinated group（104）. Subjects in the vaccinated group were administered one dose of 15μg H1N1 vaccine. Subjects in the unvaccinated group received no vaccine as controls. Safety will be measured by assessment of pregnancy outcomes. And observation time for pregnancy outcomes was lasting for 28 days postpartum since vaccinated; and protective effect was observed for six months.

Acute respiratory infection and acute diarrhea are among the most prevalent diseases of childhood increase the burden of morbidity and mortality in children under 5 years. Among the possible strategies for its prevention is important to count on good nutritional status for use in developing a good immune response to infections. Zinc deficiency has been shown to favor the development of infections and has been considered a real public health problem. Within the zinc compounds used are zinc amino acid chelate and zinc sulphate, the first that has shown evidence of being better absorbed and tolerated. We propose a study showing the effectiveness of zinc amino acid chelate and zinc sulphate in the prevention of acute diarrheal disease and acute respiratory infection.

The purpose of this study is to determine if a simple intervention to improve hand hygiene, consisting of a 3-4 minute training video, on-site posters, and hand hygiene supplies, can reduce respiratory and GI illness among employees.

The main purpose of this study is to determine whether weekly oral vitamin D supplementation is effective to prevent acute respiratory tract infections in children. The hypothesis of the study is that vitamin D supplementation reduces the incidence and severity of acute respiratory tract infections in children.

This study aims to assess the responsiveness to change of adventitious lung sounds (ALS) in patients with lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI). Patients will be recruited from a central Hospital and their demographic and anthropometric data, lung sounds, lung function, breathlessness, oxygen saturation and chest HRCT scan will be collected within 24h of the first appointment. Then, patients will be randomly allocated to either conventional treatment or conventional treatment plus respiratory physiotherapy. Conventional treatment will consist on daily medical treatment prescribed by the physician. Respiratory physiotherapy will involve 9 sessions (3 times a week during 2 weeks) of breathing retraining and chest clearance techniques, exercises for thoracic mobility, expansion and flexibility, cardiorespiratory exercise training and education about the disease. It is expected that ALS will be responsive to changes in patients' lung function after treatment. It is also expected that, by including a respiratory physiotherapy component in the treatment of patients with LRTI, they will express more improvements in a shorter period of time.

Respiratory and gastrointestinal infections are common in children under the age of 4 years, especially after the start of schooling. These conditions are facilitated by a still incomplete functional maturation of the immune system and the anatomical structure and function of the respiratory and gastrointestinal tract still developing. The frequency and duration of these conditions involves a high discomfort and significant costs, in relation to medical appointments, taking medication, the need for hospitalization, days of absence from school and work days lost by parents. Functional foods derived from the fermentation of cow's milk with probiotic strains have been proposed for the prevention of infectious diseases in children. Several products have been investigated, with sometimes conflicting results. Diversity in experimental designs, populations evaluated, and bacterial strains used in the preparation of fermented products are probably responsible for these discrepancies. Recently we started a study approved by the Ethics Committee for Biomedical Activities "Carlo Romano" of the University of Naples "Federico II" (protocol number 210/12) to evaluate the effectiveness of foods fermented with Lactobacillus paracasei CBA-L74 in the prevention of common winter infections in school children aged between 12 and 48 months. Studies of pre-clinical phase showed anti-inflammatory activity of milk fermented with the strain Lactobacillus paracasei L74-CBA in terms of stimulation of the production of the cytokine IL-10 and decreased synthesis of IL-12, also in response to stimulation with Salmonella typhimurium. The data were obtained in in vitro studies on dendritic cells and ex vivo intestinal biopsies as well as in tests on healthy mice and on a mouse model of experimental colitis. A preliminary analysis of the data was found that subjects treated with fermented milk showed fewer infectious episodes, as well as a lower incidence of respiratory tract infections or gastrointestinal, with a statistically significant difference between the study groups. It was also observed a significant increase in the levels of α- and β- defensins, LL-37 and secretory IgA in the group of subjects treated with fermented milk compared to subjects treated with fermented rice or placebo. Therefore, we decided to extend the period of study of five additional months, in order to perform an evaluation of the effectiveness of fermented milk (which was more effective)vs placebo.

A critical need exists for efficient community-based interventions aimed at reduction of environmental exposures relevant to health. Biomass smoke exposures due to residential wood heating are common among rural Native American communities, and such exposures have been associated with respiratory disease in susceptible populations. In many of these communities wood stoves are the most economic and traditionally preferred method of residential heating, but resource scarcity can result in burning of improper wood fuels and corresponding high levels of indoor particulate matter. Community-based participatory research techniques will be used to adapt intervention approaches to meet the cultural context of each participating community. At the community level, investigators will facilitate local development of a tribal agency-led wood bank program ensuring that elderly and/or persons with need have access to dry wood for heating. At the household level, investigators will use a three arm randomized placebo-controlled intervention trial to implement and assess education/outreach on best burn practices (Tx1). The content and delivery strategies of the education intervention will be adapted to each community according to stakeholder input. This educational intervention will be evaluated against an indoor air filtration unit arm (Tx2), as well as a placebo arm (Tx3, sham air filters). Tx3 will be used in comparison with the other two treatment arms to evaluate the penetration and efficacy of the community-level wood bank program. Outcomes will be evaluated with respect to changes in pulmonary function measures and respiratory symptoms and conditions among household elders. The investigators hypothesize that locally-designed education-based interventions at the community and household levels will result in efficacious and sustainable strategies for reducing personal exposures to indoor particulate matter, and lead to respiratory health improvements in elderly Native populations. This study will advance knowledge of cost-effective environmental interventions within two unique Native American communities, and inform sustainable multi-level strategies in similar communities throughout the US to improve respiratory health among at-risk populations.

Recurrent upper respiratory infections ( RURTIs) are common in school aged children. An adequate iron status might reduce their prevalence. The aim of the study is to assess the percentage and type of RURTIs in Egyptian school children, assessing the percentage of iron deficiency anemia (IDA) and the effect of iron supplementation on the recurrence and severity of upper respiratory tract infections .