Active clinical trials for "Communicable Diseases"

This project will notify centers of center's post-endoscopic infection rates and evaluate the effectiveness of this notification system to decrease infection rates. The investigators aim to notify centers of the number of patients and center's risk-adjusted rates of hospitalizations for infections after colonoscopy and esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) procedures performed between January 2015 and September 2018. The investigators will randomize centers to two notification groups: (1) Ability to view center's rate compared with all other centers (ASCs and outpatient centers notified and compared separately) or (2) Ability to view center's rate compared with the other centers with a similar patient comorbidity profile and in addition to viewing option 1. Facilities will answer questions about center's infection control practices. The investigators hypothesize that centers with high rates of post-procedural infections will (1) be more likely to report that the center took action to investigate the center's infection control practices after the first notification and (2) observe a decrease in infections after the notification. The investigators anticipate that centers with high rates of post-procedural infections that are randomized to group 2 will have greater change. The investigators anticipate no change in rates of infection in the facilities that had zero or very low (n=1) event rates.

This is a randomized control study of antibiotic uses in clean non prosthetic surgeries. One group will be given antibiotic prophylaxis, other will receive a placebo. The primary outcome will be the rate of surgical site infection in 2 groups.

A new paediatric formulation (oral liquid) has been developed for flexible and accurate dosing of valacyclovir in children. To establish the bioavailability of this new formulation, healthy volunteers will be exposed to the new formulation and to valacyclovir tablets. The concentration of valacyclovir in their blood after exposure to the oral liquid will be measured and compared to the tablet.

The purpose of this study is to dermine whether local-water filtered infrared-A (wIRA) irradiation can reduce postoperative wound infection. wIRA irradiation is applied 20min directly preoperatively, before patients underwent abdominal surgery. The wIRA is a harmless light source, that has been described before. We test the impact and clinical outcome of patients undergoing a one-time preoperative wIRA irradiation on postoperative wound healing.

This study specifically seeks to quantify the contribution of relapes to the burden of P. vivax infections and disease by determining on the effect of radical pre-erythrocytic and erythrocytic clearance on subsequent rates of Plasmodium spp. infection and disease in children aged 5-10 years in a treatment to re-infection study design. In order the clear liver-stage/blood-stages G6PD-normal children were randomised to receive Chloroquine (3 days, standard dose) and Coartem (3 days, standard dose) plus either i) primaquine (20 days, 0.5mg/kg) or ii) placebo (20days). These drugs were administered over a period of 4 weeks. In addition to this epidemiological data, the study will assess the natural acquisition of cellular and humoral immune responses to P. falciparum and P. vivax, thus assisting in the determination of correlates of clinical immunity to P. falciparum and P. vivax in PNG children aged 5-10 years. These data will not only be essential for development of future vaccines against P. vivax and P falciparum but provide invaluable insight into the contribution of long-lasting liver-stages to the force of infection with P. vivax that will contribute towards designing more rational approaches to the treatment of P. vivax both in the context of case management and future attempts at elimination.

The clinical symptoms of septic complications (SC) (responsible for the majority of morbidity in colorectal surgery) become apparent only 5-7 days after the operation, whereas the efficacy of treatment depends on early diagnosis. By detecting such complications early it could be possible to reduce their severity, the length of hospitalisation, repeat colostomy and the number of readmissions. Our team has shown that C-reactive protein (CRP) > 125 mg/L at postoperative day 4 (D4) was a predictor of SC in this context. Procalcitonin (PCT) is a marker of sepsis currently used in intensive care, but its use in the follow-up of elective surgery, particularly colorectal surgery, has not been fully evaluated. The aim of this study is to compare the ability of CRP and PCT to detect SC as early as postoperative day 2 (D2) (intra-abdominal or systemic SC, such as those defined by the CDC) after elective colorectal surgery. Adult patients about to undergo elective colorectal surgery with anastomosis will be included once they have given their written informed consent. Levels of CRP and PCT will be measured the day before the surgery, then at D1, D2, D3 and D4. The clinical data (temperature, recovery of bowel movement, pain, pain on palpation) will be recorded daily. Imaging examinations will be performed at the discretion of the surgeon; the only obligation will be to perform a contrast-enhanced abdominopelvic CT-scan if CRP at D4 > 125 mg/L with no other clinical anomalies. The discriminating ability (measured by the area under the ROC curve) of CRP at D2 was 0.653 in our previous study. An improvement of at least 0.1 will be necessary to show the superiority of PCT over CRP in clinical terms and with regard to the cost.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the long-term persistence of binding antibody responses against V1V2 and gp120 in subjects who were vaccinated with the envelope glycoprotein 120 (gp120)-negative factor (Nef)Tat/ Adjuvant System 01B (AS01B) (GSKSB732461) vaccine candidate. Other immune parameters like the HIV-specific cluster of differentiation (CD4+) T cell and CD8+ T cell responses will also be evaluated.

Rectal and genital sampling in HIV prevention trials permits assessments at the site of HIV entry. Yet the safety and acceptability of circumcision and sigmoidoscopy (and associated abstinence recommendations) are unknown in uncircumcised men who have sex with men (MSM) at high risk of HIV infection. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of methods for assessing baseline characteristics of the mucosa of MSM at risk of HIV infection in Lima, Peru.

The Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) Patient Safety Learning Laboratory (PSLL) focuses on developing health information technology (HIT) tools to engage patients, family, and professional care team members in reliable identification, assessment, and reduction of patient safety threats in real-time, before they manifest in actual harm.

This proposal seeks to build upon studies, including ours, on the favorable effects of California strawberries on vascular health. Freeze dried strawberry powder (FDSP) contains a number of nutrients that may have beneficial effects on plasma lipids and vascular function, as well as on the composition of the gut microbiota; changes in the gut microbiota can in turn have secondary positive effects on the vascular system as well as on other physiological functions that are important determinants of health and disease. The proposed project will seek to determine the influence of short-term FDSP intake on the gut microbiota composition, and select microbial-derived metabolites from stool, serum and urine, and their relationship to microvascular function. Secondary outcomes will include the influence of the FDSP on circulating levels of nitrate and nitrite and trimethylamine oxide (TMAO) as markers of vascular health that are influenced by both dietary intake and the oral and gut microflora, with blood pressure as an additional vascular outcome.