Active clinical trials for "Wounds and Injuries"

Main objective : To compare the quality of the prognostic assessment, (adverse evolution at 6 months) of severe and moderate traumatic brain injury, performed by the clinician compared to the prognosis described by the IMPACT score. The Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital is conducting a study evaluating the clinician's prognostic assessment of severe and moderate traumatic brain injury compared to the prognosis described by the IMPACT score. The investigators compare the quality of the clinician's prognostic assessment (adverse evolution at 6 months) of severe and moderate traumatic brain injury to the prognosis described by the IMPACT score.

Immediately following a spinal cord injury (SCI), patients are admitted to inpatient rehabilitation where they undergo physical reconditioning in preparation for a return to home setting. The current standard of practice for aerobic training is performing arm-ergometry for 25 mins at a frequency of three times per week. Given the move towards shortened length of stay during inpatient rehabilitation, performing MICT can consume a considerable amount of therapy time. Sprint interval training (SIT) has been shown to elicit similar improvements in physical capacity, despite a reduced time commitment to MICT. However, there are no controlled trials comparing the effects of SIT to MICT in individuals with SCI undergoing inpatient rehabilitation. The primary aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of a five-week, thrice weekly 10 min SIT program and compare outcome measures to a traditional 25 minute MICT program on the arm-ergometer in individuals with SCI undergoing inpatient clinical rehabilitation. It was hypothesized that five weeks of SIT and MICT would induce similar changes in maximal and sub-maximal exercise performance, self-efficacy for exercise, and exercise enjoyment, despite large differences in training volume and time commitment. It was also hypothesized that SIT would be well tolerated and elicit higher levels of cardiovascular strain than MICT.

The aim of the study is to investigate how phosphorylation of STAT3, p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and protein kinase B (AKT) reacts to remote ischemic conditioning (rIC) in healthy humans, which could point to mechanisms by which rIC may protect against ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI), and if rIC affects immune reactivity.

Skeletal muscle is the largest endocrine organ in the body, playing an indispensable role in glucose homeostasis. Spinal cord injury (SCI) prevents skeletal muscle from carrying out this important function. Dysregulation of glucose metabolism precipitates high rates of metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and other secondary health conditions (SHCs) of SCI. These SHCs exert a negative influence on health-related quality of life (HRQOL). New discoveries support that a low level of activity throughout the day offers a more effective metabolic stimulus than brief, episodic exercise bouts. The proposed study will translate this emerging concept to the population of individuals with SCI by using low-force, long-duration electrical muscle stimulation to subsidize daily activity levels. Recently, we demonstrated that this type of stimulation up-regulates key genes that foster an oxidative, insulin-sensitive phenotype in paralyzed muscle. We will now test whether this type of activity can improve glucose homeostasis and metabolic function in patients with chronic paralysis. We hypothesize that improvements in metabolic function will be accompanied by a reduction in SHCs and a concomitant improvement in self-reported HRQOL. The long-term goal of this research is to develop a rehabilitation strategy to protect the musculoskeletal health, metabolic function, and health-related quality of life of people living with complete SCI.

Neuropathic pain is often a result of direct diseases of peripheral or central nervous system with an estimated prevalence of 8% of adults and this pain is associated with significant consequences because of longer symptom duration and severity than many of the other pain syndromes. Functional brain imaging has revealed that many regions of the brain are engaged by painful events, but specific areas such as the thalamus have been markedly implicated. The purpose of this study is to determine the feasibility and safety of MRI-guided focused ultrasound treatment using the ExAblate Transcranial System in patients suffering from Neuropathic pain. This treatment modality offers non-invasive precise treatment potential for these patients.

This study will determine the pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and safety of escalating doses of Basis following twice daily oral administration in patients with acute kidney injury (AKI). Basis is a commercially available nutritional supplement consisting of nicotinamide riboside (NR) and pterostilbene that acts to increase sirtuin activity.

Persons with higher levels of spinal cord injury (above the 2nd thoracic vertebrae; tetraplegia) are unable to maintain normal core body temperature (Tcore) when exposed to cool environments. In persons with tetraplegia, even limited exposure to cool temperatures may cause Tcore to approach hypothermic values and impair cognitive performance. Conversely, an increase in Tcore from subnormal to normal range may improve cognitive performance. Prior work has shown that cool seasonal temperatures have an adverse effect on personal comfort and the ability to perform vital daily activities of self-care in persons with tetraplegia. Interventions that address the vulnerability to hypothermia are limited. A self-regulating heated vest designed specifically for persons with tetraplegia is a novel and promising strategy to address this problem. By more effectively maintaining Tcore, the vest can decrease the adverse impact of cool temperatures on comfort, quality of life, and performance of vital daily tasks for Veterans with tetraplegia during the cooler seasons.

The use of a pre-arrival and pre-departure trauma checklist to optimize care has not yet been studied. The Alberta Children's Hospital (ACH) Trauma Checklist was developed by the ACH Resuscitation Council with input from the ACH Trauma Program. The purpose of this study is to determine if the introduction of the ACH Trauma Checklist as a cognitive aid, coupled with an educational session, will improve clinical performance in a simulated environment. The investigators plan to conduct a pilot, randomized control trial assessing the impact of the ACH trauma checklist on time to critical interventions on a simulated pediatric patient by multidisciplinary teams. The investigators hypothesize that teams who use a trauma checklist as a cognitive aid will have faster initiation of key clinical interventions within a simulated pediatric trauma resuscitation. Improvements in performance in a simulated environment with this tool may translate to similar results in the clinical setting.

When using suture (stitches) to close wounds, surgeons can use suture that is absorbable or non-absorbable. Absorbable sutures naturally break down. Non-absorbable sutures need to be removed. We wish to determine how the cosmetic result of a specific absorbable suture (fast absorbing gut) compares to that of a specific non-absorbable suture (prolene).

SMART is an interactive web-based program that will allow youth with mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBI) to monitor their symptoms and receive education on problem-solving and coping strategies. This study will evaluate the effectiveness of SMART as a means of improving symptom-management, coping skills, and general well-being during recovery from mTBI. Half of participants will receive the SMART intervention, while half will receive usual care.