Active clinical trials for "Communicable Diseases"

Evaluate the diagnostic and therapeutic role of fiberoptic bronchoscopy in management of patients with lower respiratory tract infection in Respiratory Intensive Care Unit of Assiut University Hospital

This study is designed to gather information about knowledge of pediatric dentistry interns towards infection control procedures in pediatric dental clinics, also about their attitude towards the rules and guidelines of infection control, and finally their practice to these guidelines to achieve the ultimate infection control in pediatric dental clinics.

The role of miRNAs in HIV disease is yet to be completely defined. Host miRNAs target certain HIV genes, thus can affect HIV replication and participate in viral control. miRNAs can also block HIV production through disruption of Gag assembly on cell membranes. miRNA expression can characterize HIV disease phenotype, as has been shown in HIV elite controllers who have a well-defined miRNA expression profile. However, the studies of miRNA in acute infection and co-infections like tuberculosis are lacking. The investigators showed that during immune reconstitution syndrome (IRIS) in HIV/TB coinfected patients, innate immune response play a role as through NK cell degranulation, therefore testing for this could be used as a predictive marker of IRIS. One of the limitations of miRNA detection is the technique, which is time-consuming, and needs laboratories that are specialized and equipped for molecular biology techniques. In contrast, flow cytometry has been developed in routine labs and has well-standardized techniques. For the routine detection of miRNA, flow cytometry could be the best way to perform high throughput screening for clinical applications. Flow cytometry is a simple and effective way to evaluate miRNAs expression. In this project the investigators propose to evaluate, using flow cytometry, whether circulating miRNA pattern might be applicable as potential biomarkers in prediction and prognosis of IRIS in HIV/TB co-infected patients. The investigators propose to study the miRNA expression profile in a cohort of patients with a HIV infection and Tuberculosis and correlate it with their clinical evolution. As controls, the investigators propose to analyze expression of miRNAs in healthy controls as well as TB and HIV mono-infected patients. AIMS OF THE PROPOSAL Identify miRNA expression profile as potential novel predictive and prognostic biomarkers for IRIS. Identify the miRNA expression profile in HIV patients, in TB patients and in HIV/TB co-infected patients.

The purpose of this observational nationwide study is to evaluate the effects of three different COVID-19 vaccines for the outcome of different severities of incident COVID infection.

Acute pancreatitis (AP) is an inflammatory disease of the pancreas, most commonly caused by gallstones, or excessive use of alcohol. It represents a management challenge and a significant healthcare burden. The incidence of AP ranges globally from 5 to 30 cases per 100.000 inhabitants/year, and there is evidence that the incidence has been rising in recent years. The overall case-fatality rate for AP is roughly 5%, and it is expectedly higher for more severe stages of the disease. In most cases (80%), the outcome of AP is rapidly favorable. However, acute necrotizing pancreatitis (ANP) may develop in up to 20% of cases, and is associated with significant rates of early organ failure (38%), needing some type of surgical/endoscopic intervention (38%) and death (15%). In the United States, AP is a leading cause of inpatient care among gastrointestinal conditions: more than 270.000 patients are hospitalized for AP annually, at an aggregate cost of over 2.5 billion dollars per year. In Europe, the UK incidence of AP is estimated as 15-42 cases per 100.000/year and is rising by 2.7% each year. Despite existing evidence-based practice guidelines for the management of biliary AP, clinical compliance with recommendations is poor, with studies on this field identifying major discrepancies between evidence-based recommendations and daily clinical practice. Audits about biliary AP have been performed in Italy, Germany, France, and England, with quite disappointing results. Indeed, in these audits, the treatment of biliary AP differed substantially from the recommendations. For example, less than 15% of the responders stated that they strictly followed all recommendations included in the guidelines in Germany and 25.8% of patients did not receive definitive treatment for biliary AP within 1 year in the UK. These findings support the view that publication alone of nationally or internationally developed and approved guidelines is insufficient to modify the practice of non-specialists and raises the question of how best to spread guideline recommendations. In 2020, the spread of the virus Covid-19 has represented a pandemic that also had a profound impact on the surgical community. There are many ways through which the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic could have influenced daily clinical practice for patients with biliary AP also leading to a failure to adhere to the recommendations coming from the guidelines, especially those regarding the early and definitive treatment with cholecystectomy or ERCP and sphincterotomy. First of all, the recommendation to postpone all non-urgent endoscopic procedures during the peak of the pandemic. Second, the recommendation to conservatively treat inflammatory conditions such as acute cholecystitis and acute appendicitis wherever possible. Since the clinical compliance with recommendations about AP is poor and the impact of implementing guideline recommendations in biliary AP has not been well studied on a global basis, we launched the MANCTRA-1 study with the aim to demonstrate areas where there is currently a sub-optimal implementation of contemporary guidelines on biliary AP. Moreover, we argue that during the Covid-19 pandemic the tendency to disregard the guidelines recommendations has been more marked than usual and we will try to find out if AP patients' care during the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in a higher rate of adverse outcomes compared to non-pandemic times due to the lack in the compliance of the guidelines. The MANCTRA-1 can identify a number of areas for quality improvement that will require new implementation strategies. Our aim is to summarize the main areas of sub-optimal care to provide the basis for introducing a number of bundles in the management of AP patients to be implemented during the next years. The primary objective of the study is to evaluate which items of the current AP guidelines if disregarded, correlate with negative clinical outcomes according to the different clinical presentations of the disease. Secondary objectives are to assess the compliance of surgeons worldwide to the most up-to-date international guidelines on biliary AP, to evaluate the medical and surgical practice in the management of biliary AP during the non-pandemic (2019) and pandemic Covid-19 periods (2020), and to investigate outcomes of patients with biliary AP treatment during the two study periods.

COVID-19, the coronavirus responsible for the pandemic that began at the end of 2019 in China, spreads through respiratory droplets and direct contact. The most common symptoms of the disease include fever, cough, asthenia or myalgia, wheezing and headache, and the most serious complication is acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). The new coronavirus has continued to spread to multiple countries and continents so much so that the epidemic was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Interest (PHEIC) by the World Health Organization (WHO) on January 30, 2020. In the first phase of emergency worldwide, characterized by high morbidity and mortality, scientific interest has been mainly directed to the study of the transmission mechanisms of the infection, diagnostic tools and therapies for ARDS, especially in elderly and co-morbid patients. Interest has rapidly spread to other categories of patients and in particular to pregnancy, on which the virus could impact in different ways, with consequences for both the mother and the fetus. A recent systematic review that included all published reports on Coronaviruses (COVID-19, SARS, and MERS) in pregnancy showed that preterm delivery is the most frequently reported adverse event in these women, and that COVID-19 is associated with an increased risk of preeclampsia and caesarean section. Nonetheless, the limited sample size, the main inclusion of cases reported for acute respiratory symptoms, the lack of information on previous pathologies potentially capable of complicating pregnancy, do not allow for the extrapolation of strong evidence on the course of infection in pregnancy. Therefore, the current status of the scientific literature does not allow for general and wide-ranging implications. THe investigators therefore believe it is particularly useful to investigate maternal and fetal outcomes in this new broader scenario, including all pregnancies associated with asymptomatic or symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection, found in any gestational period, in order to evaluate in a "real world scenario" "Actual rates of maternal-fetal and neonatal adverse events

A suture is a biomedical device that is made of natural or synthetic materials. Sutures are used to close tissue surfaces until wounds heal and regain their ability to withstand normal stresses. Although different suture materials are available for various dental procedures, clinicians commonly neglect to select sutures based on their mechanical properties and capabilities. Instead, clinicians rely on their clinical experience to determine which suture material will suffice for wound closure and healing. To our knowledge, there have been no published studies detailing the results of mechanical testing on sutures after clinical application. The aim of this study is to clinically, histologically, and mechanically assess the four common sutures used in periodontal and dental surgery, with the hopes of providing clinicians with a guide that will allow them to choose sutures based on the clinical, histological, mechanical properties that best fit the stress and strain applied to the wound.

Controlled, prospective, open-label trial with a total duration of 2 weeks to assess the clearance of inflammatory interleukins by different membranes in haemodialysis patients with COVID-19.

Qualified sputum samples from bronchiectasis patients were collected regularly every month for three consecutive years to analyze the microbiome changes of lower respiratory tract of bronchiectasis patients by metagenomic sequencing. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was isolated and the whole genome was sequenced to analyze the adaptive evolution，including virulence, quorum sensing and drug resistance under host pressure. The aim of the study is to clarify the rule of microflora colonization distribution and adaptive evolution in the lower respiratory tract of patients with bronchiectasis, to predict the acute attack and prognosis of patients with microbiome changes, and to find more new prevention and treatment methods by adjusting the microbiome of the lower respiratory tract.

Residents in nursing homes for the senior citizens (NH) are at high risk for death from COVID-19. We investigated whether repeated non-mandatory RT-PCR SARS-CoV-2 surveillance of NH staff and visitors reduces COVID-19 incidence rates in NH residents and allows to reduce visiting restrictions.