Active clinical trials for "Inflammation"

The evaluation of patients with abdominal pain is a challenge for the emergency physician and the selection of patients for second-level radiological examinations or endoscopic procedures is not always easy to perform. Faecal calprotectin could be a useful diagnostic marker to distinguish between "organic" or "functional" form and its determination could be helpful to select patients for further examinations, in the context of emergency setting.

Systematic medical chart and imaging files review of patients presenting with non-lymphoma, non-thyroid-related orbital inflammation. The review aims at comparing the frequency of MRI infra-orbital nerve enlargement, between patients diagnosed with an IgG4-related ophthalmic disease (IgG4-ROD) and other patients.

An observational study designed to compare colonic cytokine concentrations in lean versus obese individuals

In a number of neuropsychiatric disorders such as depression, both brain inflammation and glutamate mediated excitotoxicity (cell death through over-activated stimulation) are suspected to play a key role. It is difficult, if not impossible, to determine the potential destructiveness of the inflammatory response seen in disease states by studying the brain's inflammatory cells (microglia) activity in isolation. The investigators are proposing to develop the means to concurrently study inflammatory response (i.e., microglial activity) and its potentially devastating consequence (i.e., glutamate excitotoxicity) across the entire brain in order to establish the importance of inflammation. In this study the investigators propose a phased clinical study whereby the early-phase involves the development of our capacity to study inflammation-mediated damage to brain cells, followed by a feasibility study in patients with clinical depression that tests whether concurrent inflammation and glutamate excess could be measured in key brain regions associated with a depressed mood state.

The investigators explore the presence of AD factors beta-amyloid and tau in CSF and plasma to verify AD diagnosis in patients with acute hip fracture. Clinical dementia test is performed prior to operation. Blood samples and CSF samples are collected at surgery and blood samples are collected postoperatively at intervals. Mortality is assessed at 30 days, 3 months and 1 year. Morbidity is assessed at , 3 months and >1 year. Neuromarkers specifically addressing the inflammatory component are to be analyzed and correlated to outcome together with AD markers, as above.

The ARDS has a clinical definition with criteria of the American-European Consensus Conference (1994). This definition inconveniently applies to a lot of patients with acute respiratory failure. We know that there are 2 forms of ARDS morphology on CT scan : "lobar attenuation" (loss of aeration with no concomitant excess in lung tissue) predominating in the lower lobes and "non lobar attenuation" with diffuse and massive loss of aeration with excess lung tissue in all the pulmonary parenchyma. Today, plasmatic biomarkers are used as prognostic and diagnostic markers of ARDS. Some of them are characteristics of the different damages in the ARDS (alveolar epithelium and vascular endothelium lesions) : sRAGE, SP-D, PAI 1 and sICAM 1. This study's hypothesis is that patients with ARDS criteria and lobar morphology on CT scan present loss of aeration but no inflammatory pulmonary oedema, whereas patients with non lobar morphology on CT scan present both characteristics. The primary purpose of our protocol is to show that the patients who respond to ARDS criteria and have a lobar morphology on CT scan do not have an elevation of the biomarkers specific to the pulmonary aggression of ARDS.

Investigate the impact of the Fluocinolone Acetonide (FA) intravitreal implants

This proposal represents a unified programme supported by both clinical and academic staff in the Departments of Paediatrics at Imperial College and St Mary's Hospital, Southampton Hospital and John Radcliffe Hospital (Oxford). St Mary's Hospital is the hub of a paediatric network for West London, and forms part of the Paediatric Intensive Care Network for the London region, with potential access to a population of 3 million children. We aim to improve diagnosis and understanding of children with infectious, inflammatory and allergic conditions. Our study will establish well-characterised cohorts of patients with defined conditions, in whom microbiological and patient samples will be used to understand the contribution of genetic background, differential gene expression, proteomics and the pathogen type to the disease process. Unwell children coming to hospital through any route will be invited to join the study. Entering the study will entail the child having blood taken for research purposes in addition to the clinically indicated tests. We will also recruit well (control) children who are having blood tests performed for elective purposes, such as surgery. In addition, children presenting with an illness that is likely to have an infectious aetiology will also have samples collected for microbiological diagnosis. Those samples taken for ordinary diagnostic purposes (such as blood, urine, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid or nasal brushings for epithelial cell cultures) would also be used for state-of-the-art diagnostic techniques, in order to maximise the likelihood of confirming a microbiological diagnosis. Where healthy, uninfected children are having invasive procedures, such as lumbar punctures, we would aim to recruit these children as controls and collect biological samples such as CSF samples. This bid addresses the need for translational research in paediatrics, by building on the world-class basic science and clinical paediatric base at Imperial College and St Mary's Hospital.

Vascular inflammation is a key factor in both the pathogenesis and outcome of atherosclerosis. Various inflammatory markers such as LpPLA2,MCP-2 and hsCRP are well-known prognostic factors for the cardiovascular event. 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) is a promising tool for identifying and quantifying vascular inflammation within atherosclerotic plaques.Therefore, the purpose of the study is to demonstrate the correlation between various inflammatory markers and vascular inflammation detected by 18FDG-PET.

The purpose of the study is to investigate the clinical and morphological characteristics of chronic subclinical inflammation in the myocardium in patients with decompensated heart failure with ischemic systolic dysfunction.