Active clinical trials for "Wounds and Injuries"

It is estimated that up to 5% of all admissions to level one trauma centers have a peripheral nerve injury. These peripheral nerve injuries may have devastating impacts on quality of life and require months or years to regain function. Neurotmesis, or peripheral nerve transection, is a common injury, with singly cut nerve lacerations accounting for over 60% of the peripheral nerve surgical interventions in civilian studies. For recovery to occur in these patients, axons must grow from the site of repair to the target tissues, a length of up to a meter in humans. By that time, revisional surgery may not be a viable option due to the onset of irreversible muscle atrophy - a transected nerve is estimated to induce a loss of achievable function of approximately 1% for every 6 days of delay. The scenario is even worse for more proximal nerve injuries, such as those that occur in the brachial plexus. The investigators aim is to longitudinally assess diffusion tensor tractography (DTI) in order to optimize, validate, and translate the ability of DTI to monitor and, more importantly, predict nerve regrowth following trauma and surgical repair. The overall objective of this study is to evaluate the ability of (DTI) to monitor and, more importantly, predict nerve regrowth following crush or cut with surgical repair. The investigators hypothesize that the additional information available via DTI will improve our ability to monitor and predict nerve regrowth following surgical repair or severe crush injury, guiding clinical management either toward or away from surgical intervention.

This research, aimed to verify whether the use of vascular ultrasonography (VUS) could lead to better results in the peripheral venous access implementation in children. Objectives: To compare, regardless of the number of venous puncture attempts, peripheral venous access obtained in children, according to VUS use or traditional method for peripheral intravenous catheter (PIC) insertion; assertiveness in the use of PIC in children, defined as success in the first attempt of puncture and PIC withdrawal according to release of treatment, related to VUS or traditional method and to describe the influence of VUS on PIC dwell time and development of local complications related to the use of intravenous therapy in children.

Objectives include: 1) establishing a psychometrically sound traumatic brain injury (TBI) screening measure for use among homeless veterans; 2) identifying the prevalence of those that screen positive for TBI among homeless veterans seeking VA services; and 3) comparing psychiatric and psychosocial outcomes between those with and without a history of TBI.

HandTutor is a computerized system designed to evaluate and rehabilitate hand function. It is composed of a glove with optic sensors detecting the movements of the wrist and the fingers with a biofeedback software designed to evaluate and then to exercise the hand movements through supplying a variety of computer graphic patterns. The HandTutor has been used and tested with a stroke population, and it seems potential to be used with hand injuried population. As a first step, it is important to investigate the characteristics of the system and how it is matching the hand injuried population. The purpose if this study is to characterize the HandTuror system and the focused objectives are: To examine the test-retest reliability of the system when measuring the range of motion (ROM) of the the fingers among healthy people (control group). To examine the correlation between the ROM measured by the HandTutor and the ROM measured by conventional assessment tools (goniometer). To examine the ability of the system to distinguish between healthy people and hand injured people. To examine the correlation between the performance in the HandTutor (in the games part), and the performance in functional activities. To examine the participants feedback for using the HandTutor (degree of enjoyment).

Tampere Traumatic head and brain injury study is a prospective study aiming to explore neuroradiological, neuropsychological, neurological and biochemical aspects of mild traumatic brain injury (mtbi). The main interest is on factors that effect to the outcome after mtbi. The study is conducted in Tampere University Hospital's emergency department between the 1st of August 2010 and 31st of July 2013.

The purpose of this research study is to demonstrate that individuals with upper limb paralysis due to spinal cord injury, brachial plexus injury, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and brain stem stroke can successfully achieve direct brain control of assistive devices using an electrocorticography (ECoG)-based brain computer interface system.

This represents the first prospective examination of advanced airway management under combat conditions. The findings will have a tremendous impact on both modern prehospital medical practice and on the treatment of our wounded Soldiers during the Global War on Terrorism.

The investigators propose a prospective study, designed to analyze the efficacy of High-Resolution Diffusion Tensor Imaging for accurately sensing white matter tracts in subjects with spinal cord injury. Study subjects will not be randomized, as treatment will follow the doctor's "standard of care." Patients will be selected and offered enrollment based upon the clinical diagnosis of spinal cord injury, either due to degenerative disease or trauma. Enrollment will be based on the chronology of patient presentation.

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.

The primary aims of this study are to: 1) Establish the concurrent criterion-related validity of four traumatic brain injury (TBI) screening questions (TBI-4) using the Ohio State University TBI Identification Method (OSU TBI-ID) and 2) Establish the concurrent criterion-related validity of the TBI-4 with the addition of detailed information elicited by the four questions. Secondary aims include: 1) Determining if the addition of detailed information elicited by the TBI-4 results in increased specificity; 2) Determining whether the prevalence of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in this sample is concordant with previous research; and 3) Determining whether psychiatric outcomes are worse for veterans with traumatic brain injury (TBI) than those with no traumatic brain injury(TBI).